Courtney Sarault takes silver in women's 1,000m for 3rd medal win at Milano-Cortina

Canada's Courtney Sarault climbed the podium at the Milano Cortina Olympic Games for a third time after winning a silver medal in the women's 1,000-metre final on Monday.

The 25-year-old from Moncton, N.B., now owns three medals from these Winter Games following a bronze-medal win in the women's 500m final and a silver medal earned with Canada's mixed relay team.

"It's a dream come true," Sarault said of winning a medal in each event she's competed in thus far. "Every race I want to compete and I want to show what I have to offer and I think I'm doing that really good.

"Sometimes we don't always get exactly what we want, but the field is so stacked with all the girls that anyone can probably win it at this point. It's just about who makes the best decisions at the right time, who's the smartest, and who's kind of racing the best."

Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands won Monday's final in one minute 28.437 seconds, while Sarault finished in 1:28.523. Kim Gilli of South Korea (1:28.614) rounded out the podium in bronze-medal position.

Sarault held the lead for the first six of the nine-lap race before Velzeboer passed her, and Kim went into second shortly after with two laps remaining. Turning the corner for the final lap, Sarault overtook Kim but couldn't pass Velzeboer near the end.

"Xandra had a really great race and she executed it perfectly, and I'm really proud with how I did it," Sarault said. "I went out, and I skated with heart, and I gave everything I had left, and I can't get off the ice saying I didn't give everything I had."

Sarault told CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux she was happy with how her race turned out, aside from a small mistake that Sarault said she made in the final.

"I came in just focused and ready to fight for it, and ready to give my all every race, and I feel like I worked my way through the quarter and the semi, and I was really, really smart," she said. "I feel like I made a little error in my 1,000-metre [final]. I got a little too excited, [and I] wanted it a little too bad.

"Sometimes when we're too intense, we miss little things, so I think that was my one error today. But with that said, I'm so proud of myself, just in the heat of the moment, I was like, 'Why'd I do that?'"

Sarault is only the second Canadian women's short-track skater to win three medals at a single Games, matching the mark set by teammate Kim Boutin at Pyeongchang 2018.

Sarault was the lone Canadian in the five-skater final as teammates Boutin and Florence Brunelle bowed out earlier in competition. Brunelle, of Trois-Rivieres, Que., was third in her semifinal heat and finished second in the 'B' final.

Boutin, of Sherbrooke, Que., did not advance to the semis after finishing third in her quarterfinal.

The silver medal is a marked improvement over Sarault's result in the same event at Beijing 2022, something that she said is especially satisfying for her today.